How is this HLC visit different?
The comprehensive review process has been changed significantly since our last accreditation
review and visit nearly a decade ago. At that time, the campus had to pull together
a very lengthy, detailed themed self-study. The comprehensive review now entails
an Assurance Filing and a Federal Compliance Filing. The Federal Compliance form
document with a list of specific questions, around 30 pages all told, identifying
how we meet particular U.S. Department of Education requirements. The Assurance Filing
is limited to 35,000 words, or around 140 pages, and must directly respond to specific
questions indicating how we meet the criteria for accreditation. In contrast, the
2009 Thematic Self Study was 266 pages, or around 100,000 words long.
The Assurance Filing, which is being written by Faculty Accreditation Fellow Rick
Fisher with evidence gathering supported across campus, can be augmented with evidence
- essentially PDF’ed documents of websites, policies, syllabi, minutes, and other
artifacts that directly support our ability to meet the various criteria for accreditation.
The Assurance Filing system is restricted access to the HLC Accreditation Liaison
Officer, Anne Alexander, and up to 15 other people. However, the HLC Ops Team will
share the Assurance Filing with campus in the early Fall of 2019.